1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a lock fitting with at least two lock bolts for sliding doors, windows or the like.
The present invention is more particularly concerned with a fitting including a mobile assembly that slides longitudinally in a chamber of the section constituting the front upright of the window, door or the like and which comprises a bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding first slot in the front wall of said chamber, is adapted to receive the tail of a bolt inserted from the outside of said chamber, if necessary in an adjustable manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fixing to the lower end of the above assembly a rod adapted to inter-engage with a keeper on the section constituting the bottom cross-member on which the sliding window, door or the like slides is known per se. When the sliding assembly is slid downward to lock the window, door or the like by means of the bolt on the sliding assembly, the free end of the rod inter-engages with the corresponding keeper to complete the locking action.
However, the rod and the bolt can be released from their respective keeper merely by lifting the window, door or the like.
The demand for more secure sliding windows, doors or the like has lead to the need for lock fittings for sliding windows, doors or the like including at least two lock bolts.
This affects not only new installations, which have to be fitted with the required number of bolts at installation time, but also existing installations which are to be modernized by fitting them with auxiliary bolts in the most simple and economic fashion possible.
EP-A-0 757 146 describes a lock fitting of the aforementioned type in which the sliding assembly is slidingly connected by an operating rod extending in the longitudinal direction of the section to at least one auxiliary bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding second slot in the front wall of the chamber, is adapted to receive the tail of an auxiliary bolt, if necessary in an adjustable manner.
According to the above document, each auxiliary bolt is mounted on a support block mobile inside the chamber of the section and entrained by a rod that is also mobile inside the chamber of the section.
Each support block is held against the front wall of the chamber by a plate fixed to the wall by screws that pass through slots in the rod.
Each plate has a large slot through which the corresponding support block passes and in which it slides.
The slot formed in each plate to enable the support block to move considerably weakens the resistance of said plate to attempts to force the corresponding bolt.
What is more, all the components of the above lock must be introduced into the chamber at one end of the section, which is labor intensive and makes it difficult to fix the plates against the front wall of the chamber.
The aim of the present invention is to remedy the drawbacks of the prior art systems and to propose a lock fitting of the aforementioned type that is robust, reliable and economic and which can be fitted either when installing new equipment or when modernizing existing equipment of any kind, with minimum inconvenience and at the lowest cost.
The present invention consists in a lock fitting with at least two lock bolts for a sliding door, window, patio door or the like, the fitting including a sliding assembly which is mobile inside and in the longitudinal direction of a chamber of the section constituting the front upright of the door, window, patio door or the like and which comprises a first bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding first slot in the front wall of the chamber, is adapted to receive the tail of a first bolt introduced from the outside of the chamber, if necessary in an adjustable manner, the sliding assembly being slidingly connected by an operating rod extending in the longitudinal direction of the section to at least one auxiliary bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding second slot in the front wall of the chamber, is adapted to receive the tail of an auxiliary bolt, if necessary in an adjustable manner, the lock fitting including at least one auxiliary cartridge adapted to be introduced into the interior of the chamber of the section and to be fixed directly to the inside face of the front wall of the chamber by its front wall which includes a slot similar to the corresponding second slot and which includes means for bearing on the inside face around the second slot, and said auxiliary cartridge including an interior cavity adapted to receive the auxiliary bolt-carrier in sliding fashion, the interior cavity having on its inside surface and the auxiliary bolt-carrier having on its outside surface respective complementary conformations extending in the longitudinal direction and formed in the transverse direction of the front wall of the chamber of the section adapted to cooperate with each other to guide the auxiliary bolt-carrier in the longitudinal direction and to retain the bolt-carrier in the cavity.
In this way, the auxiliary cartridge, which is fixed directly to the inside face of the front wall of the chamber, can easily be designed to withstand on its own account and to transmit to the front wall of the section under good conditions forces transmitted to the corresponding auxiliary bolt in the event of an attempt to force said bolt.
Also, the problems of fixing the auxiliary cartridge against the front wall of the chamber can be solved without taking the auxiliary bolt-carrier into account.
In parallel with this, the problems of guiding and retaining the auxiliary bolt-carrier in the cavity of the corresponding auxiliary cartridge can be solved without having to take account of the problems of fixing the auxiliary cartridge against the front wall.
In an advantageous version of the invention, the auxiliary cartridge includes a body having a substantially U-shaped cross section and surrounding the interior cavity, and a cover adapted to be fixed to the body so as substantially to close the interior cavity after introduction of the auxiliary bolt-carrier into the interior of the cavity.
Thus the auxiliary cartridge is prepared in advance and prefabricated, which limits the number of components that installers have to manipulate and fit on site when installing a sliding window, door or the like.
In an interesting version of the invention, the operating rod being adapted to be slidingly fixed outside and near the front wall of the chamber of the section, the front wall of the body adapted to be fixed against the inside face of the front wall of the chamber is opposite the cover and the cover has two internally screwthreaded bushes adapted to receive screws introduced from outside the chamber, through holes in the front wall of the chamber, to fix the body against the front wall of the chamber.
This is a very simple solution to the problem of fixing the auxiliary cartridge to the front wall of the chamber without having to take account of the conditions of entrainment of the auxiliary bolt and the corresponding bolt-carrier by the external rod.
In another beneficial version of the invention, the operating rod is adapted to be introduced into the interior of the chamber and extends parallel to the lateral walls of the chamber.
The auxiliary bolt-carrier is then in the general form of a flat elongate rod carrying projecting on one of its main faces a block of material in which is formed the opening of the auxiliary bolt-carrier, and the opening of the auxiliary bolt-carrier opens in front of a notch in at least one of the side walls of the body of the cartridge forming the front wall of the auxiliary cartridge.
In another aspect the invention consists in an auxiliary cartridge adapted to receive slidingly an auxiliary bolt-carrier itself adapted to receive an auxiliary bolt.
In accordance with the invention, the auxiliary cartridge is adapted to be fitted to a lock fitting constituting the first aspect of the invention.